Police recover Banksy works in fraud investigation

An original Banksy artwork has been recovered by police after being alerted by
an art dealer of a fraud.

Original Banksy artworks entitled 'Wrong War' (left) and a signed Banksy print of 'No Ball Games' which were recovered by police in GreenwichPhoto: PA

12:37PM GMT 15 Feb 2013

Detectives say 'Wrong War' plus a signed print of Banksy's 'No Ball Games' were bought for a total of £12,990 in January.

Around two weeks after delivering the artworks to a customer in Plumstead, south east London, the art dealer from Essex received bank letters stating that the cards used did not have the authorisation of the cardholders and therefore both payments were being cancelled and refunded to the cardholder.

This left the dealer without the artworks or payments and he reported the matter to Scotland Yard.

In the meantime, the suspect had contacted the art dealer again, this time to make a purchase of two Banksy prints worth a total of £10,000. Police were informed of this order and last Friday (Feb 8th) police arrested a 25-year-old man at an address in Plumstead. The suspect has since been bailed, pending further inquiries.

Officers searched an address in Charlton, believed to be linked to the suspect, where they recovered 'Wrong War'.

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The artwork 'No Ball Games' was recovered after a member of the public bought it from the suspect. He became suspicious of the transaction and contacted the Essex art gallery directly, subsequently returning the artwork.

Detective Sergeant Geoff Grogan, of Greenwich CID, said: "We acted very quickly after the victim contacted us and this gave us the opportunity not only to make an arrest, but also to recover the artworks.

"We believe that there may be more than one person involved. We are also in the process of contacting the card holders who were unaware that their cards were being used. Our investigation is still open and will continue".

One of the cards used in the transaction is registered to a card holder in Arizona. Police are currently in the process of identifying the second card holder.